Electrolytes?

[Stacyoung13]

Hi, I know there’s electrolytes for chicks and such. I’m wondering about Gatorade. I’m in Florida, in the summer the heat and humidity can be ridiculous. I keep multiple water buckets around plus their pvc watering system. Would putting a bucket of Gatorade out be ok? I thought with the electrolytes in it, it would help keep them hydrated. I noticed last year that some days they just weren’t themselves, and I blame the heat. We have powdered Gatorade here all the time, we both work outside, so it would be handy. What’s your thoughts on this?

 

[Acre4Me]

No. Gatorade is for humans and the salt content is higher than chickens need or is healthy for them.

When providing electrolyte solutions, it is important to also offer plain water at the same time. Electrolyte solutions are perfect for microbes to grow, so when offering the electrolyte solution, you will want to keep it cool and remove and throw away any remaining solution at the end of the day. The sav-a-chick site (below) indicates that the solution can be kept in the fridge for 48 hours, but no more. So, when kept outside it is not that cold, so has a much shorter lifespan.

However, you can make your own chicken electrolyte. Here is a recipe link, but others on BYC may chime in with their own homemade recipe:
https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2017/02/homemade-electrolyte-recipe-chicks.html

Here is a commercial product that you can buy, but there are other brands:
https://www.savacaf.com/products/sav-a-chick-electrolyte-vitamin-supplement/

You are correct that the heat is hard on chickens! Adding a choice of electrolyte solution might help. @cmom is a FL chicken owner (very experienced) and might have some thoughts on warm weather and chickens. Allowing access to shade is key, in addition to having the right breeds for a warm climate, as heavily feathered breeds would not be well-suited for FL.

 

[Stacyoung13]

As stated above I have multiple buckets of water plus their PVC watering system. I didn’t plan on filling everything up with electrolytes, I was just going to use one bucket for electrolytes, they would have a choice. They are in the shade, their run is completely covered. when they are free ranging, there’s more than enough trees, bushes, flowers, and plants for them to get up under, so they’re good for shade. I was just curious about the Gatorade, see if it would help them or not. I thought I was told that if it was safe for us to consume it was safe for chickens. Thanks for info.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Electrolytes help your kidneys absorb water into the bloodstream more quickly when you're dehydrated. They don't do much if you're already fully hydrated. Since I imagine you keep your waterers full and available at all times, I don't see electrolytes doing much for you.

Chickens mainly cool off via their feet and legs. Some people keep standing pans of ice water so that they can stand in there and lose some heat. Another tactic is to run a sprinkler through the pen so they can sort of artificially sweat. And if you damp their dustbath, that patch of ground/sand should be cooler.

 

[cmom]

I have given my birds Gatorade once in a great while especially during hot weather when they're more stressed. I haven't done any research on it but my birds are just fine. They have auto waters in each pen (originally we had them in the coops until we had a failure and a flooded coop). There are sprinklers in some of the pens and the water broadcast, covers all of the pens. When it is really hot I turn the sprinklers on for awhile, mainly to cool down the ground. Here we have lots of sand and in the sunny places it gets hot and the chickens do run across the hot sand between their coops, shade/rain tables and the shade trees in their pens, they always have water available for them. When I didn't have anything else I have given some Gatorade to a struggling chick. I didn't notice any ill affects. I usually have something like Save-A-Chick on hand.

 

[cmom]

Years ago I would put pans of cool water in their pens before I put the sprinklers up.

 

[Stacyoung13]

Yeah, I have shallow tubs I fill knee deep with cold water for them to stand in. And I water down their run area. I’ll also put my hose nozzle on mist and let them walk through as they want. I do my best to keep them cool